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BRAZILIAN 

BAPTISTS 


T.  B.  RAY 


FOREIGN  MISSION  BOARD, 
SOUTHERN  BAPTIST  CONVENTION 
RICHMOND,  VA. 


Brazilian  baptists 


The  Brazilian  Baptists  are  worthy  of  con- 
sideration. Their  leaders,  their  churches, 
their  institutions  have  inspiring  stories.  Let 
us  become  better  acquainted  with  them  for  our 
own  help  and  theirs. 

MISSIONARIES. 

Counting  the  representatives  of  all  denomina- 
tions, there  are  in  Brazil  fewer  missionaries 
to-day  in  proportion  to  the  population  than 
there  are  either  in  India  or  China.  There  is 
one  missionary  in  Brazil  to  every  one  hundred 
and  twelve  thousand  of  the  population,  one  to 
one  hundred  thousand  in  China  and  one  to 
every  ninety  thousand  in  India.  If  we  had  the 
same  distribution  of  Baptist  ministers  in  our 
Southern  country,  that  we  have  in  Brazil,  there 
would  be  only  four  in  Texas,  two  in  Virginia, 
three  in  Georgia  and  other  States  in  like 
proportion. 

Mr.  and  Mrs.  E.  A.  Nelson,  the  only  repre- 
sentatives of  our  Board  in  the  Amazon  region, 
are  trying  to  reach  four  States  which  comprise 
a territory  five  times  as  large  as  Texas.  Pass- 
ing down  the  coast  five  days’  journey,  we  find 
D.  L.  Hamilton  and  H.  L.  Muirhead  and  their 
wives,  who  along  with  Miss  Voorheis,  are  our 
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representatives  in  the  State  of  Pernambuco. 
They  have  also  placed  upon  them  the  super- 
intendence of  the  work  in  the  adjoining  State 
of  Alagoas.  Two  days  further  down  the  coast 
are  located  Mr.  and  Mrs.  S.  L.  Ginsburg,  Mr. 
and  Mrs.  E.  A.  Jackson  and  Mr.  and  Mrs.  C.  E. 
Stapp,  who  are  attempting  to  carry  forward 
the  work  in  the  vast  States  of  Piauhy,  Goyaz, 
a part  of  Minas  Geraes  and  Bahia,  which  last 
named  State  has  in  it  one  city  as  large  as 
New  Orleans.  Mr.  and  Mrs.  E.  A.  Jackson  are 
located  far  in  the  interior  of  the  State,  three 
weeks’  journey  from  Bahia.  In  the  State  of 
Espirito  Santo  beyond  them  going  down  the 
coast,  stand  Mr.  and  Mrs.  L.  M.  Reno.  In 
the  populous  State  of  Rio  de  Janeiro,  in  which 
is  located  the  capital  city,  with  its  one  million 
inhabitants,  are  W,  E.  Entzminger,  J.  W. 
Shepard,  A.  B.  Langston,  J.  J.  Taylor,  O.  P. 
Maddox.  W.  H.  Cannada,  A.  B.  Christie  and 
D.  P.  Crosland  and  their  wives.  Entzminger, 
in  addition  to  conducting  the  Publishing  House, 
must  also  carry  forward  mission  operations 
in  Nictheroy,  a city  of  40,000  inhabitants 
situated  across  the  Bay  opposite  Rio. 
Shepard,  Langston  and  Taylor  have  placed 
upon  their  shoulders  the  tremendous  responsi- 
bility of  conducting  the  Rio  Baptist  College 
and  Seminary.  Cannada  gives  his  energies  to 
the  Flumenese  School  for  Boys,  leaving  only 
Maddox,  Christie  and  Crosland  at  liberty  to  do 
the  wider  evangelistic  work  and  cultivate 
the  many  churches  which  the  success  of  their 
labors  have  thrust  upon  them.  Farther  South 


in  Sao  Paulo,  the  richest  and  most  progressive 
State  in  the  country,  are  Mr.  and  Mrs.  W.  B. 
Bagby,  Mr.  and  Mrs.  A.  B.  Deter,  P.  M. 
Edwards,  Miss  Annie  Thomas  and  Miss  Kate 
Carroll.  Dr.  and  Mrs.  Bagby  and  the  young 
ladies  just  mentioned,  devote  their  energies  to 
the  school,  leaving  only  two  to  take  care  of 
the  field  which,  because  of  its  splendid  rail- 
road facilities,  has  in  it  scores  of  inviting  loca- 
tions for  successful  work.  Mr.  and  Mrs.  R.  E. 
Pettigrew  have  recently  been  located  in  the 
city  of  Paranagua,  the  greatest  seaport  town 
of  the  State  of  Parana,  lying  just  South  of 
Sao  Paulo,  a State  twice  as  large  as  Virginia. 
In  Porto  Alegre,  Rio  Grande  do  Sul,  the 
Southernmost  State  of  Brazil,  a State  as  large 
as  Tennessee  and  Kentucky  combined,  stand 
two  sentinels  in  the  persons  of  Mr.  and  Mrs. 
A.  L.  Dunstan. 

What  a battle  line  for  twenty  men  to  main- 
tain! It  is  more  than  four  thousand  miles  in 
length.  If  you  should  place  these  men  in 
line  across  our  Southern  territory,  locating  the 
first  one  in  Baltimore,  you  would  travel 
one  hundred  miles  before  you  would  reach 
the  second,  one  hundred  miles  to  the  third 
and  in  going  toward  the  Southwest,  you 
would  reach  the  twentieth  man  in  El  Paso, 
Texas.  Whereas,  if  you  were  to  draw  up  the 
Southern  Baptist  ministers  located  in  the 
Southern  Baptist  territory  along  the  same  line 
and  pass  down  it  to  make  the  count,  by  the 
time  you  reached  El  Paso,  you  would  have 
passed  eight  thousand  men,  and  they  would 
have  been  standing  just  one-fourth  of  a mile 
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apart.  Do  we  need  four  hundred  ministers  in 
this  country  to  one  in  Brazil?  Such  a division 
of  forces  can  neither  be  fair  nor  faithful.  How- 
ever, let  us  not  get  the  impression  that  the 
handful  of  missionaries  we  have  down  in  Brazil 
are  discouraged,  though  they  cry  manfully  for 
reinforcements.  They  are  as  busy  as  life  try- 
ing to  meet  the  increased  demands  which  are 
placed  upon  them  and  look  to  the  future  with 
largest  hope. 


CHURCHES. 

Scattered  up  and  down  the  land  from 
Manaos,  a thousand  miles  up  the  Amazon,  to 
Porto  Alegre,  in  the  far  South,  are  113  Baptist 
churches,  having  a membership  of  8,182.  This 
is  a vigorous  body  of  evangelistic  spirits  who, 
in  spite  of  the  persecutions  they  endure  in 
many  places,  witness  so  faithfully  and  effec- 
tively that  they  are  confidently  expecting  to 
baptize  within  their  Convention  year  four  thou- 
sand souls.  The  35  churches  in  the  State  of 
Bahia  added  to  their  membership  by  baptism 
during  1911  the  magnificent  total  of  one  thou- 
sand. 

They  are  a self-sacrificing  people  who  believe 
thoroughly  in  the  grace  of  giving.  Some 
churches  go  so  far  as  to  make  tithing  a test 
of  fellowship,  having  the  rule  that  no  person 
who  does  not  tithe  is  allowed  to  be  a member. 
They  are  usually  very  poor,  though  here  and 
there  is  found  a wealthy  member.  They  make 
a good  showing  in  building  houses  of  worship. 
Out  of  their  poverty  almost  half  of  these 
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church  organizations  have  church  buildings, 
most  of  which  were  built  without  any  aid  from 
the  Foreign  Mission  Board.  Some  of  these 
churches  were  erected  through  the  generous 
contributions  of  single  individuals. 

They  believe  in  missions.  They  have  State 
Mission  Boards  in  several  States  and  a Home 
Mission  Board  is  maintained  by  all  the 
churches.  A Foreign  Mission  Board  is  also 
supported  by  all  the  churches.  The  Brazilian 
Baptists  gave  to  distinctly  foreign  mission  work 
last  year  an  average  of  22  cents  per  member, 
the  same  as  that  averaged  by  Southern  Bap- 
tists. They  maintained  foreign  mission  work 
in  Chili  and  Portugal,  while  the  Home  Mission 
Board  is  stretching  out  its  hands  to  the  border 
regions  in  the  Republic. 

INSTITUTIONS. 

They  support  liberally  a number  of  excellent 
institutions. 

One  of  the  oldest  of  these  is  the  Brazilian 
Baptist  Publishing  House.  Its  headquarters  is 
located  in  Rio  and  Dr.  Entzminger  is  its  secre- 
tary. This  publishing  house  contains  a print- 
ing plant  in  rented  quarters  which  prints  and 
publishes  the  “Jornal  Baptista,’’  conceded  by 
most  people  to  be  the  best  religious  weekly 
in  Brazil,  Sunday-school  periodicals,  books  ancj 
a large  number  of  tracts  of  various  sorts. 

The  Brazilian  Baptists  are  alert  to  th< 
necessity  of  building  up  good  denominationa 
schools.  To  this  cause,  they  have  been  willin 
to  make  great  sacrifices.  . 

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The  ctown  of  the  school  system  is  the  Rio 
"Baptist  College  and  Seminary.  It  is  located  at 
Rio  de  Janeiro.  Drs.  Shepard,  Langston  and 
Taylor,  aided  by  a large  corps  of  professors, 
are  doing  a really  wonderful  work.  In  four 
years,  this  school  has  grown  from  an  enroll- 
ment of  five  students  to  the  probable  enrollment 
of  300  students  this  year.  Its  greatest  need  is 
adequate  grounds  and  buildings.  If  this  school 
-could  be  once  set  on  its  feet  with  an  adequate 
plant,  it  could  be  easily  self-sustaining,  and 
would  be  one  of  the  mightiest  power-houses  for 
good  in  South  America. 

The  secondary  schools  are  very  essential  to 
the  success  of  the  denominational  scheme. 

There  is  a fine  school  for  girls  conducted  by 
Dr.  and  Mrs.  Bagby  in  Sao  Paulo.  Through 
this  agency,  they  are  reaching  sympathetically 
some  of  the  leading  families  of  that  city  and 
State. 

A very  excellent  school  for  boys  is  conducted 
by  Brethren  Cannada  and  Christie  in  Nova 
Friburgo  in  the  mountains  north  of  Rio.  It  is 
called  the  Flumenese  (River)  School.  It  is 
I our  newest  school  and  has  a bright  future. 

I The  school  for  boys  and  girls  at  Bahia,  which 
the  generous  gift  of  Captain  Egygio,  one  of 
I our  greatest  converts,  made  possible  to  open 
several  years  ago,  has  taken  on  new  life  since 
it  has  been  moved  into  the  excellent  property 
boug'iit  recently  from  Dr.  Z.  C.  Taylor.  Brother 
IStapp  is  in  charge. 

The  only  other  school  run  by  our  mission- 
liries  is  at  Pernambuco.  Brother  Muirhead,  as- 
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Bisted  by  Mrs.  Muirhead  and  Miss  Voorheis,  is 
doing  a great  work  for  boys  and  girls  in  this 
splendid  school.  In  connection  with  it  is  con- 
ducted by  Brethren  Hamilton  and  Muirhead,  a 
Theological  Training  School  which  is  rendering 
yeoman’s  service  in  training  young  ministers 
for  the  evangelization  of  North  Brazil, 

Such  are  our  forces.  They  are  small  in  num- 
ber, but  large  in  success.  During  these  thirty 
years  in  which  the  Foreign  Mission  Board  of 
the  Southern  Baptist  Convention  has  been 
operating  in  Brazil,  the  work  has  had  a remark- 
able growth.  Indeed,  in  no  other  country  has 
our  work  progressed  as  rapidly.  It  is  certainly 
a country  of  wide-open  doors.  We  believe  the 
successes  of  the  past  are  prophecies  of  larger 
triumphs  in  the  future.  What  would  happen 
if  we  could  increase  our  missionaries  In  Brazil 
three-fold?  We  could  then  confidently  expect 
to  win  this  country  for  our  Lord  and  Christ — 
a goal  which  is  neither  unreasonable  nor  im- 
possible. To  this  end,  let  us  devote  ourselves 
with  prayer  and  self-sacrifice. 


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